Elizabeth-Herrell According to the recent Forrester Enterprise And SMB Networks And Telecommunications Survey, North America And Europe, Q1 2009, 32% of the 279 network and telecommunications managers surveyed indicated they planned to upgrade their IVR in the next 12 months. Before a decision is made, companies need to consider their options for upgrading their IVR and compare the differences between premise based and network based voice portals. Voice portals are standard based platforms that support multiple speech or touch tone applications. Forrester’s survey indicates 22% of companies plan to add speech applications this year to improve automation of customer transactions and provide better customer service.

Look For the Solution That Best Fits Your Business

Network based services provide a means to support advanced applications from a carrier’s network. The benefits of network based services are flexible OPEX pricing and faster time to deploy new services. Forrester’s Wave on network based IVR/voice portals provides an in-depth look at major vendors offering these services and insight into their value added solutions. Premise based solutions also support advanced VXML speech applications on native-SIP platforms. These standards-based platforms support innovative multimodal applications and provide Web service for integration with third-party cloud services. Organizations that want greater control over their application find premise based solutions better suited for their business. Forrester’s Wave on premise based IVR/voice portals has a new line up leading vendors in this area.

By Elizabeth Herrell

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